Petronella McGovern is a psychological suspense author and editor. Her works include The Liars, a heart-stopping cocktail of family secrets, sinister unsolved disappearances and a community at war with itself, The Good Teacher, which was longlisted for the Sisters-in-Crime Davitt Awards, and her first novel, Six Minutes, which debuted on
Australian Writers’ Centre graduate Louise Bassett has released her debut young adult novel, The Hidden Girl, published by Walker Books. The novel is a gripping page-turner, set in Melbourne and Indonesia, in which teenage Melati races against the clock to save a girl she’s never met.
Her perseverance paid off with the completion of her first draft for The Assassin Thief. But over 50 rejections later, she knew she needed to try a new approach. Madeline enrolled in Creative Writing Stage 1 at the Australian Writers’ Centre to nail the basics of her story, then went on to edit her manuscript with Cut, Shape, Polish. After taking Pitch Your Novel: How to Attract Agents and Publishers, she was ready to send out her novel again – and this time she was snapped up by New Dawn Publishing.
“I enrolled in Writing Children’s Novels and became a much better writer for it,” Reece told us. “I took everything I’d learned and wrote a fourth manuscript, A Girl Called Corpse, and the rest is history!”
Carla Fitzgerald is author of the picture book Keeping Up with the Dachshunds and the middle grade novel How to be Prime Minister and Survive Grade Five. Carla has done many courses at the Australian Writers’ Centre and, in this video, she talks about how she got her big break.
Congratulations to Al Campbell and Sandhya Parappukkaran, both Australian Writers’ Centre graduates, who are finalists in the Queensland Literary Awards 2022! Al Campbell is author of the incredible novel The Keepers. As a graduate of several Australian Writers’ Centre courses, including the Write Your Novel program, Al’s wonderful story has
Naomi Hart had spent several years preparing her debut memoir and was thrilled when it was picked up for publication. While going through the publication process, she decided she would take the opportunity to add to her writing skillset, so she enrolled into Freelance Writing Stage 1.
The winners and shortlist of the 2022 Furphy Literary Award have been announced. Acclaimed writer and poet Cate Kennedy won the Award for her story ‘Art and Life’, with second prize awarded to Lisa Moule for ‘The Game’. And Natalie Vella has been awarded third place for her story ‘Winter
Miranda Luby was a confident copywriter in her professional career – but her dream of writing a novel remained elusive until she plunged into our writing courses. We were thrilled to hear that Miranda’s debut novel Sadie Starr’s Guide to Starting Over has now been published by Text Publishing, so we chatted with the newly minted author of this wonderful young adult book to get all the juicy details about her writing life and success.
Congratulations to Australian Writers’ Centre alumna Veronica Lando who has signed a two-book publishing deal with HarperCollins Australia. Veronica has completed a range of courses with the Australian Writers’ Centre, which she says have helped shape her writing. These include our core fiction courses Creative Writing Stage 1 and
After moving from Sydney to a rural beef cattle property, Paula Stevenson found she had more time to devote to writing. Inspired by the stunning bushland in her new home and the with the arrival of her grandchildren, she became was inspired to write her own picture books and enrolled in Writing Picture Books at the Australian Writers’ Centre.
Bettina Deda originally started writing to find out more about her family history and to share their stories with her sons. With the help of Patti Miller’s Life Writing course, Bettina began to explore her own memories and experiences, culminating in the publication of her memoir Dare to Dance, published by Vpi Publishing.
Alex Sarkis had enjoyed writing on the side as a hobby from her day job working in accounts. But after ten years of dabbling on her own, she decided it was time to look for guidance by enrolling in a writing course with the Australian Writers’ Centre.
Rashida Tayabali had always wanted to write, but had been discouraged from studying journalism at university. While working as a marketing coordinator, she decided her maternity leave would be the perfect opportunity to rediscover her old passion. Inspired by a colleague who had done courses at the Australian Writers’ Centre, Rashida enrolled in Freelance Writing Stage 1 – and immediately her life changed.
Courses taken at AWC:
Creative Writing Stage 1
Fiction Essentials: Characters
Cathrine Mahoney had a successful career as a publicist for the likes of Sony Music, Channel Nine and Nova radio. So why did she make the decision to quit her day job?
Courses completed at AWC:
Crime and Thriller Writing
Copywriting Essentials
Julie Fison had been writing professionally her whole adult life, having worked as a journalist and published books for kids and young adults. But when she decided to write a novel for adults, she knew there was more she could learn. She turned to the Australian Writers’ Centre to hone her skills around plotting and characterisation.
Courses completed at AWC:
Anatomy of a Crime: How to Write About Murder
2 Hours to Scrivener Power
Build Your Author Platform
Dinuka McKenzie was a busy working mum when she decided to start writing as a creative outlet. The more she wrote, the more she loved it, so she decided to complete a few courses at the Australian Writers’ Centre to hone her craft. After finishing her first crime manuscript, she entered it in the Banjo Prize for unpublished fiction – and then came the extraordinary news that she had won!
Courses taken at AWC:
Writing Picture Books
Writing Chapter Books for 6-9 year olds
Laugh Out Loud
Millie Lewis had an unexpected birthday treat when she received an ‘I’m interested’ email from publisher James Layton at Larrikin Books. While on maternity leave from her job as a paediatric psychologist, Millie had turned to writing to reclaim her pre-mummy identity, enrolling in courses at the Australian Writers’ Centre. And just a short time later, she had a positive response to her manuscript for Mr Price’s Pet Emporium.
Courses taken at AWC:
Writing Picture Books
Reinvent Yourself
“I knew it was worth taking the time to workshop it a bit and, serendipitously, an AWC Writing Picture Books course was starting the following week. I took the leap and signed up straight away,” Rebecca says.
That manuscript became Facing the Wave and it has now been published by Larrikin House.
“I was very excited to be published from my first pitch and I know that the things I learned through the AWC helped me be as prepared as possible.”
Congratulations to all the wonderful authors, illustrators and publishers who have made it onto the Children’s Book Council of Australia’s (CBCA) shortlisted books for 2022. We’re particularly chuffed for the talented graduates from our Writing Picture Books course – children’s authors Vikki Conley, Sandhya Parappukkaran and author/illustrator Freda Chiu –
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